


Metanoia

by alfing



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sanji is a mermaid, Zoro is kinda dumb, lots of fluff, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 10:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10942743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alfing/pseuds/alfing
Summary: Sanji is a mermaid and Zoro is lost at sea.





	Metanoia

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this after reading "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen

Deep in the sea lies a kingdom of creatures who bore fish tails instead of legs. The king of said kingdom was known as Judge Vinsmoke and he ruled the seas with his beautiful and kind queen, Sora. From the two of them came five children. Reiju, the oldest, was a lovely mermaid with pink hair and a matching pink tail. Ichiji, the second oldest and the first born of the quadruplets, was a ruthless warrior with bright red hair and tail. Niji, the second of the quadruplets and the third born, was blue and cunning. Sanji, the fourth sibling born and the third quadruplet, was kind and had beautiful blonde hair but with a light blue tail. And lastly, there was Yonji, the youngest of them all, he was seaweed green and mischievous.

A mermaid’s (or merman’s) coming of age ceremony usually consists of the opportunity to swim to the surface and view the world above for the first time. Four of the five siblings had found each experience extremely tedious, not interested in scenery. But to Sanji, he found it fascinating. When he was fifteen and old enough to swim up there, the first thing he saw was people. He had been daring enough to swim close enough to the shore to see humans walking on the streets and along the beaches. What interested him the most (besides all of the beautiful women of course) was the delicious scent coming from one of the buildings. He swam around the beach to see a restaurant emitting mouth-watering aromas from all the different dishes that were prepared. Sanji suddenly felt an inspiration to cook as well.

After returning deep within the sea, the young prince would cook in secret, using the heat from the sea volcanoes to prepare each dish. At first, the meals he made weren’t very tasty, no matter how hard he tried. Sometimes, if he felt bold, he would bring one of his experimental platters to his mother for a taste test. Every time she said it was delicious and gave him a genuine smile. Every time, he didn’t believe her. 

Often, Sanji would swim to the surface to visit that restaurant, curious as to how the cooks made their food smell so good. One night, as he swam so close to the shore not even the dark could hide him, an old man with a long braided mustache happened to be looking out to where he was. Sanji and the man had both surprised one another, the former immediately diving back into the sea.

Since that incident, it had taken Sanji weeks until he was finally able to muster the courage to go back to the surface. It was night again like it had been before and the old man was there waiting for him.

“Hey, fish brat,” he greeted, an old pipe hanging from his mouth. “You finally decided to show up.”

The young prince was surprised by the sudden address and almost dived back into the ocean if it weren’t for the old man’s words. “Are you hungry?”

After his second encounter with the man, Sanji learned that he was a chef and also the owner of the restaurant he constantly visited. His name was Zeff and he made the most amazing food he had ever tasted. Every night he would swim to the back of the restaurant to meet with the old man, occasionally gaining tips from him on how to make the dish he would eat that evening. These nightly visits improved his cooking greatly and he actually felt more confident about his skills. Sanji grew close to the old man, seeing him as a fatherly figure, a presence he never had despite already having a father. Eventually, his visits would have to come to an end one night as the two chatted.

“I’m moving my restaurant,” Zeff announced, taking a drag from his pipe. “I’m going to have the very first restaurant on the sea.”

Sanji’s eyes shined with wonder as he listened to the man. His next question is what really blew his mind. “Have you ever heard of the All Blue?”

When Zeff left with the rest of his employees, Sanji didn’t stop visiting the surface. He would cook things and offer them to bums who lived on the beach or to stray animals sniffing around the sand. No one besides his mother and sister noticed his disappearances, but even then they said nothing. The young prince had made a promise to Zeff before he set out to sea, that he would find the All Blue someday and tell him all about it. But to embark on a journey like that was too much, even for a mermaid. So his wish was to be able to gain the ability to search for that sea.

When he was nineteen years old, he finally got his wish.

 

Years later, Sanji grew up to be quite the gentleman. Unlike his brothers who wore colored warrior garments to cover their chests, he wore tailored suits and different colored ties. While his siblings wooed the ladies by treating them roughly and crudely, he courted them and cherished them tenderly. The contrasts between Sanji and his brothers were so obvious that even Judge began to grow concerned. The king had just realized how his son hadn’t been attending training like the rest of his children had and seemed to spend more time somewhere outside the kingdom. Such behavior was unacceptable.

“Sanji,” Judge began, confronting his son for the first time in years. “I’ve noticed that you haven’t been around much lately. Where do you swim off to?”

The prince had taken up the habit of smoking from a cigarette that emitted bubbles rather than smoke and took a long drag from it before responding. “Nowhere in particular,” he answered vaguely, scratching the stubble on his chin.

A an angry vein popped up on Judge’s face as he tried to suppress his anger. Beside him, Sora touched her husband’s arm in an attempt to calm him. She then turned to her son. “You can go now, Sanji,” she dismissed with a smile.

The prince returned the gesture before swimming off.  _ That shitty old man _ , he thought irritably as he swam to his usual hiding spot.  _ He’s getting too nosy. I was almost caught _ . Sanji picked up one of his kitchen knives and pocketed it, then swimming to the surface. It was easier for him to cook above the water if he wanted to feed things to humans. He was about to head towards the usual boulder he cooked at when he noticed a rowboat drift towards him. From where Sanji floated, it looked as though it was a stray boat that had accidentally gotten loose from wherever it was docked.

_ It would be bad for the fish if it suddenly sank _ , he thought and made his way towards the boat, grasping it with slender fingers. He began to push it towards the shore when suddenly a loud snore surprised him. A very unmanly squeak left his lips against his will and he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. The boat rocked a bit as the thing inside it moved around. Slowly, a clump of mossy green hair appeared from the side of the boat followed by the rest of the person that occupied it. Sanji stared in amazement.

“A marimo?” he wondered aloud, causing the person (if it even was a person) to looked at him in alarm. The green haired guy squinted at him suspiciously and Sanji looked right back at him with a curious expression. Though the eyes of the man seemed fixated on the prince’s curled eyebrow.

“ _ Naruto _ ?” the stranger concluded with a tilted head.

With a sudden burst of anger, Sanji flipped the boat over suddenly. “I’m not a damn  _ naruto _ , asshole!” he exclaimed before realizing his mistake. Quickly, he rescued the green haired man who had been drowning beside his boat. A moment after that incident, the two glared at one another in annoyance.

“What the hell are you doing in the middle of the ocean?” they had asked in unison which only succeeded in irritating them even more.

“Well, I happen to live in the ocean, so what’s your excuse?” Sanji started, giving him a smug expression.

“I fell asleep in this boat and suddenly ended up here,” came the man’s blunt reply.

The prince let out a loud snort which turned into hysteric laughter. “Are you an idiot or something?” he managed, wiping a tear from his eye. The stranger turned red with embarrassment and suddenly stood up in the boat and drew three swords.

“I’ll cut you up, bastard,” he threatened.

Sanji paused in his laughter and stared at him. “Wait, you use three swords to fight?” he asked, pointing at his weapons. The man was confused for a moment before responding.

“Yeah, why?”

The prince started to laugh again, much to the other’s annoyance.

Much later, Sanji and the man had exchanged names after finally calming down enough to speak civilly. The man, whose name was Zoro, was someone aspiring to become the greatest swordsman in the entire world by defeating a guy named Mihawk. The prince was intrigued by his aspiration, glad to have met someone with a dream as big as his. In return, Sanji told him that he was a merman and a cook and was interested in finding the All Blue.

“I’d like to travel the world to find this sea. But it’s a difficult task, even for me. I don’t think I’d be able to swim that far,” he said wistfully, playing with the cigarette in his mouth.

Zoro stared at him curiously, watching him as though he were reading something in a foreign language. “Why don’t you just get some legs, then?” he asked.

Sanji glared at him and flicked him in the face. “Are you stupid? I can’t just grow legs out of nowhere. That’s not how it works,” he huffed, curled brow twitching in annoyance.

The swordsman rubbed his forehead with a frown, not appreciating the gesture. “Well, how about a boat? You could sit on a ship and travel to all sorts of places without having to swim so far on your own.”

“I’m half fish, remember? I still need water in order to live,” Sanji reminded, rolling his eyes. Zoro didn’t say anything for awhile and the prince looked up at the sky. The sun had begun to set, the moon already in the sky. “Will you be here tomorrow?” The green haired man looked at him in surprise and nodded. Sanji grinned. “Great! I’ll cook you something great tomorrow, ‘kay? So wait for me.”

 

The two had bonded over a course of a few weeks with Sanji cooking meals for Zoro and talking about their ambitions. It was on the fourteenth day since they had met that things had escalated. They had been talking about the different constellations they could see in the sky when Zoro suddenly pressed his lips to Sanji’s. The prince had blinked in surprise, unsure of how to respond. They didn’t do that kind of thing with mermaids, so the gesture was alien to him.

“What was that?” he asked, raising a curled brow.

“It’s called a kiss, shitty fish,” the swordsman replied looking away. “It’s what you do when you like someone.”

Sanji stared at him before smiling. “Are you confessing to me?” he assumed slyly, pointing and laughing at him. “What a garbage confession! You really need to work on expressing your-” Before he could finish his sentence, Zoro had grabbed him by the tie, leaning in to shove his tongue into the merman’s mouth. This caused a moan to suddenly escape Sanji’s lips as he sloppily reciprocated the kiss, his unexperienced tongue intertwining with the other’s. After a few moments, the two were forced to pull away for air. They looked at one another, flushed and panting.

“You know, I think I might like you, too.”

  
The following week, Zoro appeared with a larger ship that had a pool built into the deck. Well, that’s one way to ask someone to travel the world with you.


End file.
